Today U2 performed their final of four shows in Boston. This was the first time U2 have performed four consecutive shows in Massachusetts since the first leg of the Elevation Tour in June 2001. They did play four shows in Boston on the third leg of Vertigo (for a total of seven across the whole tour, the most shows U2 have ever done in Massachusetts on a single tour), but they were not consecutive: two in October 2005 and two later in December.

Soundcheck news today was very interesting. Multiple tweets reported that U2 ran through The Fly, with a segue into Invisible. The Fly has not yet been performed on the current tour, though an acoustic version was rehearsed back in May. During the show, the usual intermission video featuring The Wanderer was replaced by a video with Gavin Friday's remix of The Fly used over the PA (Gavin Friday was in attendance). The visual presentation included flashing slogans including famous lines from ZooTV such as "beLIEve" and "everything you know is wrong". It is now not clear if the soundcheck run-through of The Fly was by the band live or a test of this new video.

Early in the show, Gloria returned to the set for just its third performance this tour. It had missed five concerts since it was last played. During the E stage rotations, Stuck In A Moment returned after missing four shows and Volcano after missing eight. This was, respectively, their fourth and fifth performances this tour. During the encore, One returned after missing one show, and 40 returned after missing two.

The altered order at the end of the main set remained for this show, and is appearing to become something of a fixture. With Or Without You again included its extra verse Shine Like Stars, for which some fans have been bringing signs (and which I've dubbed #signlikestars on Twitter). Like all three previous nights in Boston, Pride included a tribute to the Boston Marathon bombing; Bono gave a particularly passionate speech, telling the crowd there is "no bomb that can break you". The encore opener remained Beautiful Day, which ended with Happy Birthday for a 13-year-old fan in the crowd who Bono then brought onto the stage.

During 40, Bono grabbed a spotlight and shone it on the band and the crowd like he has done many times on past tours, maintaining another one of the song's traditions alongside the "how long" chant. You can see it from 2:50 in this fan video by Rebecca Aswell:

The full setlist was:

1. The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
2. Gloria / Van Morrison's Gloria (snippet)
3. Vertigo
4. I Will Follow
5. Iris (Hold Me Close)
6. Cedarwood Road
7. Song For Someone
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
9. Raised By Wolves / Psalm 23 (snippet)
10. Until the End of the World / Love and Peace or Else (snippet)
(Intermission - The Fly)
11. Invisible
12. Even Better Than The Real Thing Fish Out of Water Mix
13. Mysterious Ways / Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves (snippet)
14. Volcano
15. Stuck In A Moment
16. Every Breaking Wave
17. With or Without You / Shine Like Stars (snippet)
18. City of Blinding Lights
19. Bullet the Blue Sky / 19 (snippet)
20. The Hands That Built America (snippet) / Pride (In the Name of Love)

encore(s):

21. Beautiful Day / Happy Birthday (snippet)
22. Mother And Child Reunion (snippet) / Where the Streets Have No Name / California (There Is No End To Love) (snippet)
23. One
24. 40

All details for this show including reviews, videos and photos can be found here.

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Posted on July 16, 2015 by Axver